From 1501-1505, two artists – Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo – lived and worked in Florence, Italy. Leonardo was a charming, handsome 50-year-old at the peak of his career; Michelangelo was a temperamental, unknown sculptor in his mid-20s, desperate to make a name for himself. Oil and Marble is the fictional account of the rivalry that drove these two masters to create their iconic masterpieces, all set against a backdrop of the violent, deceitful yet inspired world of the Italian Renaissance.

Author Stephanie Storey stops at the Asheville Art Museum on her tour for this just-published debut novel that the New York Times calls “richly imagined… tremendously entertaining.” In her discussion of the book, she also explores how American art of the 20th and 21st centuries, including the interdisciplinary and collaborative work at Black Mountain College, pays homage to and honors the legacy of these greats of the Italian Renaissance.

Limited copies of the book will be available for purchase, or bring your personal copy.

Read the review in the New York Times here. Visit the author’s website here.